


let it be.

by malfoymoonrise (pinkandcurvy)



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: (very soon), Although, M/M, Multi, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Slow Burn, So basically, Well - Freeform, aaaaaaanyways, and Likes Davey, and davey's a big homo, and he thinks jack's like one of Those Straight Guys, anyways these two are clueless and gay, because suprise! jack is NOT straight, but the only person that knows is sarah, but then they end up hooking up, crutchie supports it, davey and crutchie are roommates, even though hes a dumbass in art school, eventually, flatmates, he catches feelings for jack, he was outed to his entire school in highschool, hook ups, ish, modern college au, technically, theyre renting an apartment, which is the main cause of him being closeted
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 23:08:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18040844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkandcurvy/pseuds/malfoymoonrise
Summary: A dumbass college au. Davey and Crutchie are roommates, Jack and Crutchie are brothers. Jack and Davey are chaotic idiots and also they FUCK .  i know that's what youre here for smh. they're also in love ur welcome





	let it be.

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry im so long winded it's because im a faggot

David groaned quietly, leaning his head down on the cold desk. “I can’t do this. I can not DO this, oh my God,” he slammed his laptop shut before abruptly standing to begin pacing (which was quickly becoming his most constant pastime). 

“David, sit down. You’re doing fine,” David’s older sister, Sarah, sat across from him with her own laptop open to the document he’d been working on not just seconds earlier. “It’s just an essay. You’ve written hundreds of essays in your life, this one isn’t any different.”

“But it is, Saz! If I mess this up I mess everything up. This is college we’re talking about, not highschool. This is do or die, and if I mess it up-”

“You’re not going to die, Dave.”

David shot her a glare, that of which quickly faded into concern. “I know, I know. I know I’m not going to die. I just don’t want to disappoint ma and pa, yknow? You got acceptance letters from fifteen different schools because of your essay. What if I don’t get any? What if community colleges only want me? What if not even community colleges want me?” His voice was becoming quicker as he continued talking, as did his rate of pacing. Suddenly, he stopped. “I can’t do this. Saz, I seriously cannot do this.”

Sarah stood with a sigh and walked around the table to stand in front of her little brother, hands on his biceps comfortingly. “You’ve been in advanced english classes since you came out of the womb. You’ve been getting letters from colleges for two years now, there are already plenty that want you, all this is is the funding. If you don’t get a scholarship,” Sarah shook her head, “We’ll figure it out. Just because our parents won’t help pay doesn’t mean that I won’t, and you already work plenty. Worst case scenario you have to pay off student loans when you become famous,” she pat his arms comfortingly and made her way back to her seat, David following suit. “You got this.”

“Right.” David nodded as he reopened his computer, hands hovering over the keys. “I got this.”

 

\--------------------------------

 

So this was New York.

Manhattan, specifically.

So this was college.

David had submitted his essay to at least 50 different scholarship programs, hoping to get into at least one of his main choices, and had performed for this school as an afterthought - he’d planned to go into law, even though he enjoyed music thoroughly, but when the choice came down to law versus music, his parents had encouraged him to follow the thing he loved, whatever that might’ve been.

Somehow, he’d chosen music, so there he was. At orientation. Alright. David was half tempted to turn around and walk away - he might’ve done it too had it not been for the bing that rang from his phone, notifying him that he’d received a text. It was a simple text from Sarah, the only thing in the message was “You got this, bro [image attached]” and a picture of her and their youngest brother, Les, giving broad smiles and thumbs up. David took a deep breath before turning off his ringer and shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“Yeah, I got this.”

So he walked in.

Orientation had gone a lot smoother than he expected with the number of people that had been accepted, and in no time they were being sent off to gather their schedules and on their way. As David sat in his car, he scrolled through his phone to find the contact “Charlie” - he’d applied for and found a roommate in a decent two bedroom apartment and they’d been talking for about a month. Charlie was a sophomore at the same college, his previous roommate being a senior that moved away after graduation to become an English teacher. 

The dial tone rang three times before Charlie picked up, panting just a little.

“Hey, David! Did orientation just finish?”

“Yeah,” David quickly started up his car and connected his phone to Bluetooth before taking off. “I’m on my way over now, I’ll be there in about, uh, twenty minutes, is that cool?”

“Yeah!” There was a muffled crash and David winced, “All good - sorry, my brother and a few of his friends are here, they volunteered to help you move in because of my leg. They’re a bit, um-” another crash and a loud exclamation of ‘FUCK!’ from someone in the room made David jump, “-rowdy. Anyways, text me when you’re here and I’ll send them out.”

David cleared his throat, already nervous. He’d only texted and talked on the phone with Charlie, and though he seemed nice enough, it was always difficult for David to meet new people. “Okay, no problem. See you in 15.”

The rest of the drive was relatively easy despite the traffic, and it ended up taking more around half an hour. He sat outside with his car running for another good five minutes before shooting a text up to Charlie. The second he stepped out of the car, there were three guys at the front door. He wasn’t sure if they were Charlie’s friends or not so he didn’t say anything - Charlie had mentioned that one of them was his brother, and from what he knew about Charlie, none of them looked alike. Except maybe the one puffing on a cigar, he was short and blonde (which was pretty much all he knew about Charlie), but David didn’t want to assume. He opened the trunk of his car and grabbed the bag on top - the one with most of his clothes in it - and slung it over his shoulder, along with a box marked “HANG UP”.

“Hey, you Davey?”

David looked up at the group of boys who were now approaching him. “Uh, David, yeah. Are you... Charlie’s friends?”

“Didja hear that boys? He actually called us his friends!” The one with a cigar called, punching another in the should. “Yeah, we’s the boys. My name’s Race, nice ta meetcha! This here’s Spot, Elmer, Blink, and Jack,” the boy, Race, pointed at each person as he said their names, and David nodded politely. They looked like the type of kids that used to beat him up for knowing who Dolly Parton was in high school.

“Nice to meet you guys. I’m, uh- well, you already know who I am. I’d shake your hands if I wasn’t already, yknow,” he motioned with his head towards the box in his hands. “Um, you guys can take the lighter stuff, I can manage most of it.”

The boys nodded back at him before heading around next to him and grabbing a box each. David would have protested normally, refusing help, but he figured that if Charlie had gone through the trouble of inviting friends over to help it would be rude to deny them. The door to the apartments was propped open. They were on the first floor, room 156, which ended up being the first on his left. David tediously knocked on the door for 156, that of which was opened almost immediately by a short blonde boy.

“Charlie?”

The boy smiled brightly, “David, hi! Geez, it’s nice to finally meet you in person. Here, I’ll shows ya where your room is- are the boys behind you?” As if on cue, the four of them walked up behind David, boxes in hand, and Charlie chuckled. “Yous know where these go.”

It didn’t take long for them to unpack his car since he’d only brought the bare minimum. He’d bought a bed frame and a mattress prior to moving up here, and that had already been set up (by Charlie’s friends, he supposed) in his room, the furthest bedroom in the hallway. One thing that Charlie hadn’t mentioned before, and probably the reason they’d managed to get a first-floor apartment, was his leg. David had decided against mentioning it, figuring it would be rude, but the crutch Charlie had tucked under his arm was impossible to ignore. David’s mother was a nurse, so it wasn’t as if he didn’t see people in similar conditions regularly, but he still felt some sort of guilt. 

After everything was settled, David really didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t met a single person here before about an hour ago and clearly, they were all close - Jack (he’d found out that it hadn’t been Race, after all, but the dark-haired boy that looked absolutely nothing like Charlie) and Charlie were brothers, even. He felt like an intruder. David had been antisocial enough as it was when he was around people he did know, it was especially hard now that he was in uncharted territory with unfamiliar people.

“So, Davey-”

“David.”

“Right. Like I was saying, Davey,” David sighed quietly and shifted his position; he was leaning awkwardly against the bar-counter between the living room and kitchen of the apartment. He hadn’t known that David would be a hard name to learn until he’d met this group of boys who insisted on calling him Davey, particularly Jack, who was addressing him currently. “Where’d ya come from? You look like someone from, uhh, Canada or somethin'.”

David supressed a smile, glad that he didn’t give off the ‘southern aura’ that he was so scared of. “Missouri, actually. And you’re a native New Yorker, I suppose?”

Jack flashed David a smile paired with a wink and David felt his stomach flip - oh no. That was... not something he wanted. He was absolutely not going to become infatuated with his roommate’s brother. That was a big no-no.

“How couldja tell? My undeniable charm?”

“No, dingus,” Race whacked Jack gently on the back of his head, “It’s ya undeniable stench,” everybody laughed a little, David much quieter than the others, and Jack scowled, subtly reaching to sniff his armpits. The look of shame on his face gave the answer to David’s unspoken question. “We’s all Yorker’s here- born and raised! Well, Spotty’s a Brooklyn baby, but it’s still New York. So.”

The boy in question, Spot, visibly tensed at the words ‘Brooklyn baby’, and David couldn’t really blame him. A guy that built didn’t seem like the type to have ‘baby’ used in reference to him under any circumstance. However, Race’s casual tone was enough to relax David at least a little bit.

“That’s nice. Do you all go to college around here?”

Jack spoke this time, cutting off Race (who seemed to be the loudmouth of the group). “Spot and I’s goin’ to the same school as you and my brother, but these other idiots aren’t doing college for another year. Says they need time for their minds to reprogram or whatever.”

David nodded. It was a bit of a relief, also, to find out that he’d have at least three familiar faces to fall back on at school.

Charlie, who had previously been in the bathroom, walked out into the living room and collapsed comfortably onto the couch. Seemingly reminded of its presence by the blonde, the other boys - save David - clambered to claim a spot on the furniture. The result was a very squished, very uncomfortable looking man-sandwich, and an even more uncomfortable David. These boys clearly had no boundaries. Which was... a scary concept. David lived on boundaries. His parents didn’t know the name of any of his friends growing up, nobody from his high school knew which college he was attending, most people didn’t even know him and Sarah were related - all of his secrets and thoughts were kept either in his journal or were confided in Sarah. She was the only person who he had fewer boundaries with. Being open wasn’t exactly his forte.

“Hey, Crutchie, where’s the remote?” Blink asked despite putting absolutely no effort into looking for it, choosing instead to interest himself with a tear he’d found in Elmer’s jeans. Clearly, it was much more important.

David’s eyes bugged out of his head. Had he just heard that correctly? Had Blink really just-? Wasn’t that rude? If David had felt out of his element before, it was magnified 80x now. He really didn’t know what to think about- had Blink honestly just called Charlie “Crutchie”? It sounded cruel, and David was ready to walk back to his room at any second if there were any fights or tears. 

Muffled laughter pulled David from his shock and he quickly found that he was being looked at. He flushed a deep red.

“It’s okay David, they’s not being mean. It’s been my nickname since I’s had this bum leg, ain't no problem with it,” Charlie assured through a smile. “Really. More people know my Crutchie than Charlie, it’s just who I am.”

Nodding slowly, David tugged down at his sleeves. That was... weird. He wasn’t going to say anything because he was sure it would be more offensive that he found it weird than that they called Charlie that in the first place, but it was still weird. “Right, yeah, makes sense.” There was a beat of silence in which the others went back to looking for the remote. David cleared his throat. “Uh, hey, I should probably give my family a call, update them and... stuff. Yell if you need me for anything, cool?” Without waiting for a response, David retreated back to his room, shutting the door behind him and immediately flopping on the bed. 

He was sure he’d get used to this place soon. He was an adult now, he’d have to get used to being on his own. He couldn’t always have Sarah to fall back on. However, one little phone call couldn’t hurt.

David stared at the ceiling blankly as the phone rang. It didn’t take long for Sarah to pick up, just four rings, thankfully. At the first sound of her voice, David felt every muscle in his body relax - when had he gotten so tensed? - and a smile creep onto his face. “Hey! Saz, how’re things there?”

“Good! I have to go back to school in a few days so Les has been grabbing me at every freaking moment to spend time with me, but at least I’m not in school. How’s New York? What’s your new roommate like? What was his name... Christian?”

David rolled onto his stomach and put his chin in his palm, “Charlie, and he seems nice. He had - well, has - his brother and some friends over, they helped me move my stuff in, but I haven’t unpacked yet.”

“Daaaaaavid,” David could hear the smile through her words. He could tell exactly what was coming from this and groaned; Sarah really could be such a pain sometimes. “Is he cute?”

“No, Sarah- I mean, yeah, he’s cute, but he’s, uh, not my type,” upon receiving a simple look of confusion from his sister, David elaborated, “He’s blonde.” Apparently, that was enough for Sarah to understand, because she laughed and nodded. “Not to mention he’s my flatmate - I can’t be that cliche guy that falls for his flatmate. That would be weird as heck.”

Sarah nodded as she adjusted the camera so that it was setting on something steady and she could lean back in her desk chair; just the sight of Sarah’s room was making David’s stomach swim with homesickness. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed with his sister as she talked about astrophysics and used big words that even he hadn’t bothered to learn. “What about the friends? Are they cute?” Being pulled from his reverie, David blinked. Almost immediately his cheeks darkened as the thought of Jack’s damned smile flashed through his head, and although his camera quality was shitty, apparently it wasn’t shitty enough for Sarah to miss his blush. “Oh my gosh, really? Deedee! What’s his name? I have to help you woo him, it’s a legal obligation.”

“Saz, chill, I literally met him less than 24 hours ago,” David rolled his eyes. Just because he thought Jack was cute didn’t mean a damn thing. David also thought Jeff Goldblum was cute, did that mean anything? Absolutely not. “He’s Charlie’s brother, too, so that would be really weird, and he goes to the school. I’m sure he’ll be around plenty enough for you to hear about him at least once. He... He makes a memorable first impression, that’s for sure.”

“Memorable? What do you mean by that?”

“Do you remember Tommy Walker?”

Sarah’s nose scrunched up and she faked a gagging noise, “The one that pretended to be gay so he could beat the shit out of you in an alley and then out you to the entire school? Yeah, I remember the fucker - I hope he remembers the taste of my fist.”

“Sarah-”

“Language, I know Dave. Anyways, why’d you ask?”

David laughed quietly and breathily, “Jack reminds me of him. Like, appearance-wise mostly. I mean, all of Charlie’s friends that I’ve met so far look like they could climb me like a tree and then snap me like a twig, but the difference with Jack is that he looks like he actually might.”

“Oo, sounds hot,” Sarah wiggled her eyebrows at her younger brother through the camera. Just as David was about to shoot back a retort at her about how it wasn’t, in fact, hot, not that either of them would know anything about that, someone knocked on David’s door.

“Heyo, Davey, can I come in?” It was Charlie at the door. David quickly called back to give him a minute before ending the call with his sister with a promise of pictures of New York and his new living situation. When he was done, he reluctantly stood from his comfortable position on the mattress and opened the door to find Charlie standing there patiently.

“Sorry, I was on a call with my sister- what’s up?”

 

Charlie flashed David a smile that he swore could’ve won contests and ended wars before speaking, “Say, uh, me and the boys was thinkin’ about goin’ out in a little bit, maybe grabbin’ a bite. Didja wanna come with us?”

It took David a moment to fully realize that he was actually, literally, voluntarily being invited somewhere. “Uh, sure, that sounds alright. Where are we going?” David’s had thankfully remembered to deposit his last paycheck from work before leaving for college, so he had more than enough money to go out to eat, though after tonight he was sure he’d be back to budgeting like a fiend.

“The boys was thinkin’ a pub down the street, but Spot’s the only one here old enough to legally buy drinks anyway, so’s we was goin’ to head down to this burger joint a few miles from here. Nothin’ fancy. We’ll probably be taking off in a few minutes.”

“Oh, okay,” David nodded, “I’ll just change real quick. If you want to send me the address I could just Google Maps my way there instead of following you guys, just in case traffic’s bad,” he suggested, already a bit nervous - David was a really, really bad navigator.

However, Charlie shook his head, “We’s just gonna carpool in Spot’s minivan, there’s enough room for everybody if we squeeze a little. No need to waste gas.”  
David swallowed. Squeeze. Alright, that was fine. He could deal with that, he could deal with a tight, small, constricting, chokingly small space. It would be... fine. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be just a second.”


End file.
